Many Covid sufferers experience at least one of the many symptoms six months after acquired Covid-19 virus. The symptoms include: anxiety or depression, heavy abnormal breathing, shortness of breath, abdominal symptoms such as diarrhea or constipation, chest or throat pain, fatigues, lingering headache, foggy mind, joint pains or muscle aches.
Long Covid in the Western Medicine point of view. It is understood that the Covid virus ties to blood vessel walls and endothelial cells. The virus is highly mobile and can cross blood brain barrier; it causes vascular inflammation. Covid 19 virus perseveres longer than other virus, and the virus is moving by movement or exercise.
The risk factors for developing “Long Covid” vary from person to person. It depends on their pre-existing health conditions. Some may have immune-compromised health conditions; some may have received delayed treatment; some may have much higher viral loads than others; some may have been infected with a more infectious variant of virus; some may have poor diet or nutrition prior to contracting the virus; some may suffer from Long Covid because of their old age; some may suffer from Long Covid due to the environment that they are living in, e.g. air pollution, poor air quality, over crowed conditions, living in a cold and damp environment.
Long Covid from a Traditional Chinese Medicine point of view. The retention of Covid virus fragments in the body can cause lethargy, lingering unproductive coughs, recurrent fevers, recurrent sore throat or recurrent body muscle aches and joint pains. Long Covid also causes stagnation of energy or chi and stagnation of blood due to the depletion of energy to keep the body mobile. It also creates “Heat” and “Toxins” from the lingering pockets of inflammation in the body caused by the virus fragments. When inflammation becomes infectious in a localised area of the body, it starts to release toxins, known as the toxic heat.
Retention of “Heat”, or retention of pathogens, occurs when there isn’t any active pathogen in the body, just the yin deficient heat. This can be found on the patient’s tongue diagnosis with “red dots” found across the tongue.
Relapse occurs with “Long Covid” when it has entered the Shao-Yang level, the Gallbladder and Triple Heater channels. Sometimes, the patient can feel 100% wellness for a moment and became very ill the next moment. This pattern requires specific Chinese herbs to expel the pathogen, herbs that are sweet and nourishing as well as pungent to disperse and expel.
The progression of Covid 19 virus leads to dampness, heat and toxin into the human body. The body then retains the dampness and the toxic heat in the system. The dampness pathogen then turns into congealed phlegm in the upper warmer causing persisting un-productive cough which affects the person’s sleep quality; insomnia may then occur. The phlegm also attacks the middle warmer causing digestive problems such as lack of appetites. Last but not least, the virus also attacks the lower warmer causing inflammation in the urinary tract and bowel infection may follow. In some sever cases it even causes erectile dysfunction in men.
People suffering from “Long Covid” will experience kidney, liver and heart yin deficiency, as well as chi deficiency or chi stagnation in the spleen, kidney, live and heart. The symptoms of “Long Covid” related to the triple warmers are as follows: In the upper burner, one would experience shortness of breath, gasping for air, chest pains, sore throat, un-productive cough and palpitation. In the Middle burner, one would experience foggy thinking, temporally memory loss and abdominal problems. In the Lower burner, one would experience erectile dysfunction and urinary tract infection. On the spirit and mind level, the person can experience post-traumatic stress syndrome, anxiety, and depression.
Shiatsu Therapy can help clearing heat by moving chi and gentle meridian stretches which will reduce inflammation and clear chi and blood stagnation. Shiatsu can switch on the Parasympathetic nervous system, tonifying kidney meridian and calming the Shen to restore sleep, tonifying digestion to transform phlegm caused by dampness. Together with the herbalist, this oriental therapy can restore the spleen’s function of resolving dampness, clearing heat from blood, clearing oedema and blood stagnation.